ESPN Drops Hank WIlliams Jr. Song From Opening Telecast After He Made Controversal Remarks About President Obama

If you checked out Monday Night Football tonight on ESPN, you’ll notice there was something missing from the opening sequence. The network pulled its traditional Monday Night Football opening song for the Indianapolis-Tampa Bay game  following singer Hank Williams Jr.’s comment on Fox News’ Fox & Friends comparing President Obama to Hitler.

ESPN released a statement, “While Hank Williams, Jr. is not an ESPN employee, we recognize that he is closely linked to our company through the open to Monday Night Football. We are extremely disappointed with his comments, and as a result we have decided to pull the open from tonight’s telecast.”

The singer’s “All My Rowdy Friends” has been used as the Monday Night Football open since 1991.

In his comments to FOX News, Williams stated President Obama was “one of the biggest political mistakes ever.” and also said  “It’s like Hitler playing golf with [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu,”

The Fox News anchor Carlson asked Williams to clarify his comment, “You used the name of one of the most hated people in all the world to describe, I think, the president.” Williams responded with, “That’s true, but I’m telling you like it is.”

Williams has released a statement however saying that his comments were misunderstood:

“Some of us have strong opinions and are often misunderstood. My analogy was extreme – but it was to make a point. I was simply trying to explain how stupid it seemed to me – how ludicrous that pairing was.”

He continues, “They’re polar opposites and it made no sense. They don’t see eye-to-eye and never will. I have always respected the office of the President.”